Thank you for your interest in contributing to AFAR! We rarely accept unsolicited pitches for our magazine, but actively seek pitches for AFAR.com. Before you get started, search AFAR.com for past articles so you don’t pitch something we’ve already covered. Then read these guidelines for further instructions. Happy pitching!

AFAR’S MISSION

AFAR is a multi-platform travel media brand that inspires and guides travelers to have deeper, richer, and more fulfilling experiences—whether on a yearlong odyssey, a two-week vacation, a weekend getaway, a business trip, or a Sunday afternoon in their own city. Our mission is to inspire and guide travelers who seek to connect with people, experience their cultures, and understand their perspectives. AFAR knows that the best travel adventures often happen when you step off the beaten track or open yourself to the unexpected.

WHO READS AFAR?

AFAR’s primary readers are discerning, highly educated professionals who are curious, engaged, active citizens of the world. They place a lot of value on experiences and connections that touch them personally. They seek authenticity in people, places, and things in all facets of their lives, but they find a special thrill in doing so through travel. And they travel a lot, both for work and for pleasure. AFAR readers are fearless explorers of the world and are often the first people to experience a neighborhood, restaurant, or hotel. They enjoy venturing off the beaten path, especially in places that are on the beaten path. As such, pitches about popular destinations should always assume our readers have been there before and aim to introduce them either to somewhere deeper within that destination or to a new way of looking at that destination.

PITCHING AFAR.COM

Please familiarize yourself with Afar.com. We have two main content channels, our Travel Guides and our Inspiration Channels. Our digital editors are actively soliciting pitches that fit in our Inspiration Channels; you can find examples of these stories below. Travel Guide content and anything similar to guide content (i.e., roundups of new hotels or restaurants in a certain city) is written by our Local Experts and handled by our phenomenal Guides team. Our Guides team is not currently looking for new Local Experts.We also have an amazing dedicated team of news editors who cover our daily destination and industry news—from museum openings to new airline routes to world events. They are not currently accepting pitches.

Be sure to take note of how often we’ve covered your destination or topic in the past six months. If we’ve covered it a lot, chances are we won’t have a need for it again this year. A quick site search (or, pro-tip, a Google search) before you pitch us is always a good idea. Similarly, if multiple outlets have covered your destination or topic in the same way, it’s probably not a good fit for AFAR.

Finally, our digital content is often pegged to the seasons. Please only pitch for upcoming seasons: pitch fall content between May and August, winter content between August and November, spring content between November and February, and summer content between February and May. We will sometimes assign pitches for a season while the season is underway, but we prefer you pitch ahead of time.

Due to the high volume of pitches we receive, we cannot respond to every pitch. Do trust that we review each one, however. If you don’t hear from us within 14 days, please feel free to pitch the idea elsewhere.

THE KINDS OF STORIES WE LOVE

Spotlights on Emerging Destinations and ExperiencesA focus on up-and-coming destinations, surprising new experiences, or lesser-known but worth-a-visit neighborhoods, cities, islands, regions, and countries. These pieces usually include street-level recommendations for what to do, and why. They are often—but not always—pegged to a timely event like an anniversary or a notable opening.

“How to” StoriesApractical/philosophical approach to travel and what you need to know about local customs around the world. These stories can be entirely service oriented or incorporate personal anecdotes. They are never personal narratives.

Travel TrendsReported out pieces that examine different facets of trends—hot new destinations, increasingly in-demand experiences, and the ways people are traveling now—and explore why these trends are popular NOW. These pieces should be supported by facts, statistics, historical context, and expert insights, including interview quotes.